mrc Brings the Pivot Table to the Web

May 2010 · Oak Brook, IL

Today, software developer mrc announces a new class of reports for m-Power: the pivot table reporting class. m-Power is a development platform that rapidly creates web applications such as report-writing, business intelligence, executive dashboards, e-commerce, customer portals, and wireless applications, to name a few. m-Power is also used to modernize legacy applications in a fraction of the time other approaches might take.

A pivot table is an interactive table that automatically extracts, organizes, and summarizes data. Pivot tables are usually Excel-based and most often used to analyze data, make comparisons, and discover trends.

m-Power's new pivot table reporting class lets m-Power users create pivot tables similar to those found in Excel, but with a few notable advantages. Unlike Excel, pivot tables created with m-Power are web-based and access data directly from a database. This matters for a few reasons:

Easier to create and use

Thanks to m-Power's model-based development approach, a web-based pivot table takes just minutes to create. Since all the data already exists on your database, there's no need to gather or sort data as you would in Excel. Just open up a pivot table application, set your sorting dimensions, and click "Run."

Greater accessibility

Since your pivot table is housed on the web, it can be accessed from anywhere, at any time. There's no need to email files to yourself or others.

Better security

Web-based pivot tables provide far greater security than their Excel-based counterparts. Excel-based pivot tables can be stored in any number of locations, increasing the chances of a security breach. Web-based pivot tables are stored securely in one location behind as much security as necessary, and you can set security to limit access to specific people.

Accurate data

Pivot tables created with m-Power pull data directly from your database, ensuring that you are always analyzing the most current, up-to-date data possible.

"I can't imagine why anyone would willingly choose an Excel-based pivot table over a web-based pivot table," says Brian Crowley, mrc's Director of Development. "The benefits provided by a web-based approach are superior on every level."

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